Love The Way You Lie
by katiecav
Summary: Four women are trapped by their choices and their situations. When all hope seems lost will they find salvation or will they be burnt by the flames of their own personal hells? My expansion of my FADV piece.
1. Prologue

****Esme Platt Cullen****

__Just gonna stand there and watch me burn__

__But that's all right because I like the way it hurts__

__Just gonna stand there and hear me cry__

__But that's alright because I love the way you lie__

__I love the way you lie__

__I love the way you lie__

The sounds of chatter filled the room. It was the endless hum that exists in a crowd where no words are distinguishable. Next to the stage sat a woman studying the cards in her hands. Her caramel hair was styled to match the business suit that she wore. Both were _"elegantly sensible"_ as her daughter had told her.

"Mrs Cullen?" a soft voice asked her drawing her attention away from her notes. She looked up to see that it was one of the professors at the university. She was one of the organizers of the event. "It's about time."

Mrs. Cullen nodded and stood straightening her skirt before following the woman up to the stage. "Ladies and Gentlemen. I thank you for making your way out here today. It's my pleasure to introduce to you tonight's key note speaker. Esme Cullen."

There was a polite amount of applause as Esme stepped up to the microphone. "Thank you." she said smiling at the woman as she left her there alone on the stage. "You all are aware of the reasons you're here, what cause it is your supporting. The money you've given today will help but I'm going to ask you do something more. I'm going to ask you first to listen and second to act. Hopefully by the end of the night you'll understand the importance of both."

Esme took a deep breath. "There are times in our lives when we have to take a step back and evaluate where we are and how we got there. How events in our lives shape who we are and how we see the world. Some of us have a harder time than others. Some live in nightmares, day after day, with no sign of a way out. No one wants to admit to the problem so it's often ignored, pushed aside to a corner of your brain and mostly forgotten until it's too late.

"All that's left are the what if's. What if I was in that same situation? You think, 'that will never happen to me', 'I'd be stronger than that', 'I would never allow it', but the truth of the matter is you don't really know how difficult it is until you've been in that situation. _I've_ been there. I _know_ the devil wears many faces and crosses every social line. I see it every day of my life. Every morning when I wake up, I have to remind myself that he's real and he lives among us. I'm not here to share _my_ story though. Today, I want to share the story of three very special young women. First someone who was about as innocent of a victim as there could be.

"A child caught in the crossfires of love and hate."


	2. Part One: Alice Brandon

**A/N: I'm sorry. I forgot I hadn't posted this part on Fanfiction. You'll be getting two chapters today then. My bad. This was my contribution to Fandom Against Domestic Violence. It is written about that subject so please remember that.**

**_WARNING_: This story contains violence and the after affects of it! If that makes you uncomfortable then please DO NOT READ!**

**Part One: Alice**

_I can't tell you what it really is I can only tell you what it feels like_

_And right now there's a steel knife in my windpipe_

It was cold, but Alice didn't care. The chill was a reminder that she was alive. That she had made it out, that _she_ had survived. If what you could call what she was doing surviving. She sank to the ground in the dirty alley and hugged her knees. She was so tired. She knew she needed to keep moving but she didn't think she had the strength. It felt like she'd been running forever, and she didn't know if she'd ever get far enough, if she'd ever put enough distance between herself and the memories.

_I can't breathe but I still fight while I can fight _

_As long as the wrong feels right it's like I'm in flight_

It was when it was dark that the memories really took a hold of her. When they nearly took over, clouding each of her senses till the world around her fell into the background leaving her soundly in a past she would much rather forget. She could remember each word, each sound, each excuse like it had just been given. It was like it was freshly imprinted on her brain in a permanent loop that replayed whenever she closed her eyes.

_High of a love, drunk from the hate_

_It's like I'm huffing paint and I love it_

_The more that I suffer I suffocate_

_And right before I'm about to drown she resuscitates me_

_She really hates me and I love it. _

She rubbed her hands up and down her jeans as she buried her face in her knees and waited for the onslaught. She'd been able to successfully keep the visions at bay by focusing on getting far enough away, but now that she had stopped, she knew it was only a matter of time. Colors flashed before her eyes. Red, white, green, red, blue, blond, red, red and more red. Then the voices started...

_Where are you going?_

_I'm leaving you._

_No you ain't._

_Come back. _

The shouting clouded all of her other senses. The voices of her mother and father becoming the only thing she could really hear. Her body began to quake as she hears the rattling of the siding mocking the loud timber of his voice. Though she knows he can't possibly have found her here, it still strikes her to her core. She had escaped. She had made it out knowing his secret and she knew it would only be a matter of time before he would start looking for her. Her freedom could only be guaranteed until he realized that she wasn't where she was supposed to be, still in his trap. She was only sixteen for god sake, she shouldn't have to deal with this. She should be worrying about her hair, if she was going make the cheer-leading squad, and if she was going to get asked to the winter formal. Not this. Never this…

_We're running right back _

_Here we go again. It's so insane_

All of a sudden, she was right back in the house. The place that had been her and her mother's prison for the last four years. It was a beautiful prison. Perfectly painted siding and beautiful burgundy shutters and a matching door. There was a perfectly manicured lawn that was the envy of all of the neighbors. The family that lived there to others would appear the picture perfect suburban family. A father who owned his own business, a stay at home mother whom everyone coveted her skills in the kitchen, and a daughter that was the perfect student. No one would know by looking that inside that perfect little house, there was a sleeping dragon ready to strike.

_Cause when it's going good it's going great_

_I'm superman with the wind in his back she's Lois Lane_

Life in the Brandon house hadn't always been bad. There had been a time when Alice had love and respected her father. She was her daddy's little girl. The apple of his eye, his little princess. She did everything a normal little girl did. She would play dress up and dance in the living room, and sit on her fathers knee as he read her stories from a book of fairytales. It wasn't until Alice turned thirteen that she realized that fairytales didn't exist. That was the first time she saw the bruises on her mother. The first time that she helped her mother clean up the cuts on her arms. The first time she realized that her father wasn't the man that she thought he was.

_But when it's bad It's awful I feel so ashamed_

_I snap who's that dude. I don't even know his name_

There were good days. Days when things were almost normal. Days when the promises and the money were abundant. However, those days were becoming fewer and fewer and the longer her father went without work, the louder the arguments were between him and her mother. There were suddenly more days when her mother was too "sick" to leave her room. But the only difference was now Alice was beginning to realize what was making her mother sick in the first place.

_I laid hands on her._

_I'll never stoop so low again_

At first when Alice would see her in the bathroom trying to clean herself up, she would try to make excuses about each injury, but Alice wasn't stupid. She could hear the shouting, could hear the crack of her father's hand striking her mother's face. Eventually her mother stopped trying to hide what was really happening, but never stopped trying to downplay it.

After three years of picking up the pieces, Alice begged her mother to leave, but Alice might as well have been speaking to a brick wall. Her mother just kept telling her about how much it was her fault, about how he didn't really mean it, and how much he really did love her. It only angered Alice more that her mother wasn't fighting back, that she was just taking it, not only without a fight, but willingly taking on the blame for every slap and black eye.

"Momma, _please_. Don't you see what he's doing to you?" Alice would beg.

"We have no where else to go Alice," her mother would sigh and end the conversation every time. Alice wasn't ready to let it go so easily though. She was so angry that when her father got home from the bar that night, she told him that she knew exactly what was going on and she was going to go to the cops if he didn't stop. That was the first night that he'd hit her.

_I guess I don't know my own strength_

One night she was doing homework at the kitchen table when she heard the shouts coming from her parents bedroom. She tried to focus on the page in front of her and ignore them. It was only worse when she got involved, but instead of dissipating they only got louder and louder. Then she heard the sound that has haunted her nights every night since. The sound of her mother's cry followed by shattering glass. She ran to the bedroom without thinking. She threw open the door and her father stood there staring in the direction of the shattered window, his face absent of all color.

"Daddy?" She asked in a shaky voice. Her quiet question seemed to shake her father out his trance. He suddenly stormed out of the room pushing her into the wall with enough force to send her elbow through the drywall. "Daddy?" She called after his retreating form. Alice stared after him for only a moment before she remembered what had brought her to this room.

"Momma..." She whispered. There lying beneath the broken window in a pool of her own blood was her mother. In the distance she heard her fathers truck roar to life.

_Just gonna stand there and watch me burn_

_But that's all right because I like the way it hurts_

The Ambulance had came, but Alice knew it was already too late to save her mother. Her mother hadn't been strong enough to get away from her father, but Alice wasn't going to make that mistake. So she ran, slipped out the backdoor without the police noticing and she'd been running for days now. She'd been strong enough to get away, but she didn't feel strong right at this moment. Alice had never felt this weak and spent as she sat sobbing in this dirty dingy ally remembering he mother's last moments of life.

_Just gonna stand there and hear me cry_

_But that's alright because I love the way you lie_

"Hello?"

She heard a voice from the mouth of the alley call down. She saw the outline of a man coming toward her and her survival instinct kicked in and she ran. It only got her so far. The direction she thought would lead her to freedom, ended up being a short alley that ended in a dead end. The man was following her. She figured that this was it, that she'd only escaped her father to die in an alley from an unknown assailant. She cowered as far as she could in the corner. The brick of the building scraping against her cold skin. Her eyes had adjusted to the dark of the alley and she could see that he was advancing to her with his palms turned to her in a surrender posture.

"It's okay. I won't hurt you. I'm the preacher at the mission. One of the patrons said they heard crying from the alley." He stepped closer and she could see the large silver cross hanging from his neck. She looked up into his blue eyes and saw that they were gentle and soft. Then as he took her in they widened. "Oh my child, what happened?"

Alice couldn't respond. She didn't even know how to answer that question. Just thinking about it brought on another wave of tears and she crumbled with the weight of her grief.

_I love the way you lie_

_I love the way you lie_

The preacher reached for her and this time she didn't run from him. He took her in his arms, not even flinching at the fact that she was covered in dried blood and filth from the alley and the others that had been her stops along the way. The kind man held her and whispered to her, trying to comfort her without even really knowing why she was crying. Alice began to feel exhausted and her eyes drooped closed. She vaguely registered that they were moving, that the preacher was carrying her somewhere but she couldn't find it in herself to care as she cried into his shirt and clutched him like he was her lifeline.

She did know when they entered the mission though. It was warm and her cool skin stung from the difference in temperature. "Oh my…" she heard a soft voice exclaim.

"Esme dear…could you draw up a bath please. The poor thing is chilled to the bone. I don't want her to get pneumonia. But not too full my love. I had to give her something to calm her. She's nearly asleep as it is."

That was the last thing Alice heard the preacher say before she drifted into the only restful sleep she'd had in months.

_Just gonna stand there and watch me burn_

_and that's all right because I like the way it hurts_

_Just gonna stand there and hear me cry_

_That's alright because I love the way you lie_

_I love the way you lie_


	3. Part Two: Isabella Swan

**A/N: This is part two. An expansion of my FADV story. This is Isabella Swan's tale.**

**!WARNING! - This story has to do with violence and it's effects. This part in particular has to deal with the harsh reality of the mindset of an abused woman. Please remember that. If any of this makes you uneasy DO NOT READ!**

**Part Two: Isabella Swan**

Isabella Swan was a smart girl. She had graduated at the top of her class in high school. The only child of mismatched parents, she was a bit of a study in contrasts. She had the quiet soul of her father but the stubborn spirit of her mother. She was an independent individual, who for the most part just wanted to blend in. She knew who she was, and who she wanted to be. So why was it that when she looked in the mirror, she no longer knew the woman who was staring back at her?

_You ever love somebody so much you can barely breathe when you're with 'em  
>You meet and neither one of you even know what hit 'em<em>

Three years. Three years ago was the last time she remembered being that girl. Three years ago she had been just starting out at UW. Three years ago, she had fallen in love.

It had been a meeting that they write about in books. They had quite literally run into each other in the hallway outside one of her classes. Her books had gone sprawling to the floor and he stayed to help her pick them up and he ended up giving her his number. He had been older, more experienced, and exciting. And for a while, everything was good.

_Got that warm fuzzy feeling_

_Yeah, them chills you used to get 'em_

It was a whirlwind romance with Riley. He took every opportunity to sweep her off her feet. He had the means to do it too. He would pick her up and take her out to the symphony or fancy restaurants. He would buy her nice dresses or beautiful jewelry. But just when Bella would think it was all about money with him, he would leave flowers for her in her study cubical in the library and quiz her as they would lie in bed late on the weekends. He was romantic and outgoing, but he was also thoughtful. Riley made her happy.

That was what love was about, right? Wanting to spend all of your time with that person. That's what Bella had thought. She didn't even realize what was happening before it was too late.

_Now you're getting fucking sick of looking at 'em_

Looking back she wondered how she had missed the signs? Her father had taught her that she should always be treated with respect.

She braced herself on the cool marble sink. _Perfect for her marble tower, _she thought bitterly.

It had seemed like a castle at first. Her dream house, her dream life, her dream man. It had taken a year for Riley Stanton to become her whole world and only one day for her dream to become a nightmare.

They spent all their time together. He would pick her up from class and walk her to her next one. You wouldn't see Bella without seeing Riley. Bella only had one friend that wasn't also friends with Riley. When Kayla said something about her not liking what Riley was doing to Bella, Bella stopped hanging out with her as well.

By the spring, Riley's graduation was upon them and he would no longer be on campus. She could see him slipping away from her. So imagine Bella's excitement when in April, Riley asked her to move in with him. She could move out of her cramped dorm and into his lovely place. Bella accepted of course, feeling like they were taking the next logical step in their relationship.

If she knew then what she knew now, she never would have agreed so eagerly.

_You swore you'd never hit 'em; never do nothing to hurt 'em  
>Now you're in each other's face spewing venom in your words when you spit them<em>

Over time, Riley started to get more demanding. Insisting that she get home at a certain time each night and that she always tell him where she was going. He told her that there had been a string of crimes in the area and he didn't want her out in the city alone. Thinking that he was looking out for her safety, Bella agreed. One day she had a question to ask her professor, so she walked with him on his way to his office after class. She knew that it would make her get home later than she normally did but there was an assignment she wanted his help with.

She thought nothing of it.

When she made it back to the apartment, Riley had already been home for a good fifteen minutes. It was the largest fight that they'd ever had. He towered over her yelling accusations at her.

"Are you too stupid to tell time?" he had asked her. "Or do you just have a problem listening to instructions?"

Bella had tried to explain but he cut her off.

"What? You thought I wouldn't notice you weren't here? Who were you with Bella?" he asked again. She opened her mouth to tell him that she had been with her professor, but again he didn't give her a chance.

"You were screwing someone behind my back, weren't you? Who is he you, God damn slut!"

Bella gasped. She'd never been spoken to that way before in her life. Then Bella made the mistake of taking action against him. She drew her hand back and smacked him hard.

_You push, pull each other's hair, scratch, claw, hit 'em  
>Throw 'em down, pin 'em<br>_

The look in his eyes would always be burnt in her memory. Riley's eyes went wild. He grabbed a handful of Bella's hair, pulling her very close to him.

"You bitch!" he seethed at her through clenched teeth.

She raised her hand to hit at him again, but he grabbed her wrist and squeezed painfully.

"How dare you strike at me!" he shouted at her again.

She tore at his arm with her free hand. She might as well have been clawing at a brick wall. Riley threw her forcefully to the floor. Bella cried out and reached to catch herself, but it was useless as she fell face first into the corner of the coffee table.

_So lost in the moments when you're in them  
>It's the rage that took over it controls you both<em>

She sat up slowly bring her hand up to touch her face. Her eye hurt where she had hit it on the table. She could feel it already swelling shut. She let out a quiet sob. Riley came back into the room with a First-Aid kit. He sat down on the couch and opened it.

He reached for Bella but she twisted out of his grip. He tightened his hold on her arm; squeezing it almost to the point of pain.

"I said I was sorry baby. I didn't mean what I said. I was just worried about you. Please let me help you."

Bella remembered lying in bed and quietly crying. Distinctly aware of every movement that Riley made. It was the first time the arm that he kept around her as he slept felt more like a chain keeping her there rather than a comforting show of affection.

_So they say you're best to go your separate ways_

Why she hadn't left that next day, Bella wouldn't ever know. She had her opportunity. She should have packed her bags and gotten out then and there. She had skipped class the next day because her eye was swollen and bruised, and she didn't want to have to make excuses to her professor.

Riley had tried to talk to her that morning but she pretended to be asleep and he let her lie in bed. She hadn't spoken to him since the incident. She sat in bed for a long time after he left wondering what to do next. She should have packed her bags and left. But that wasn't what she did. She sat there in his bed and rationalized what he had just done to her.

_It really was my fault anyway. I shouldn't have been late. I knew how Riley felt about that. And then I slapped him for being concerned for me?_ _He _had _promised that it would never happen again. Why should I believe otherwise. It was just once. How can I apologize for worrying him? Maybe having a good meal on the table when he gets back from work would put him in a good mood again. _

Then as if that entire monologue made complete sense, she had checked the clock to make sure that she had enough time. If she was going to make his favorite she had to run to the grocery store. She looked at the clock on the bedside table again. Riley had said that he needed to go to a meeting so she didn't want to bother him. She put on a long sleeved shirt and her biggest pair of sunglasses, covering up the visual reminders of what had happened the day before.

_Guess if they don't know you 'cause today that was yesterday  
>Yesterday is over, it's a different day<em>

She kept her trip to the store as quick as possible, wanting to get in and out without drawing too much attention to the fact that she was wearing sunglasses in the store. She figured if anyone had asked she would just claim that she had fallen. It wasn't that far from the truth after all. She _had_ fallen and if she hadn't been so uncoordinated she would have been able to catch herself before falling into the table. She didn't have to explain anything though, everyone else seemed to be off in their own little world worrying about their own problems.

She concentrated during the next two hours on getting everything perfect and by the time he got home, she had everything ready for him and on the table. He smiled warmly at her and kissed her languidly when he saw his surprise. It was as if yesterday had never happened. It was a new day, a new start.

It was _easier _just to try and forget.

So that's what Bella did; she tried to forget. Unfortunately, it didn't last long.

_Sound like broken records playing over but you promised her  
>Next time you show restraint<em>

Riley's bouts of temper started coming more regularly. Bella found that if she was just quiet and took it, it would be over quicker. He would hurl accusations at her every time she took a misstep, every time she would do something that would displease him. He would very rarely use physical force but it still often felt as if his words were physical blows. She would clench her eyes shut and wait for the storm to blow over. Like a rain storm, it would end and the calm would come. In that time of calm, she would stupidly let Riley back in. Giving him chance after chance, hoping that he would change.

_You don't get another chance  
>Life is no Nintendo game<em>

_He _does_ love me. _

_He _will_ change._

_But you lied again_

The fresh bruises on her face were starting to appear before her very eyes. He had lied to her once more. Well no more! She stared down at the little white stick that had tumbled from her hands. How could she trust him with a child? She had only one person she could turn to now. A person who was a relative stranger to Bella in nearly every sense of the word, but the only person who had ever offered her aid.

A small, slight woman that lived in the apartment below theirs had come to Bella's help after her last argument with Riley. He had stormed out leaving Bella on the floor in the apartment. She had helped Bella clean herself and the house up and sat and talked with her for hours. She had told Bella if she ever needed anything that she and her husband would do anything they could. They had assured her that they could get her to a safe place.

She selected the number from her phone contacts and dialed.

"Alice I need your help," Bella said into the receiver of the phone.

_Now you get to watch her leave out the window_

Alice was helping Bella pack her bags not two minutes later. She had brought her husband with her. A nice gentlemanly southern man named Jasper. He waited outside the door of the bedroom as Alice helped Bella throw clothes and a few personal items into bags as quickly as they could. They were in a race against the clock.

A race against the storm.

They heard the door open and then slam shut. The sound seemed to reverberate through the entire house and they knew what it meant. They were out of time.

Riley was home.

_Guess that's why they call it window pane_

"Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?" he asked loudly, addressing Jasper. Bella stiffened instantly at the sound of his harsh voice.

Alice finished zipping up the bags on the bed and turned toward Bella. "You can do this, Bella," she said in a whisper. Bella nodded and took a deep breath.

_I _can _do this, _she thought. _I _need _to do this._

"Jasper Whitlock," Jasper answered calmly. "My wife and I live downstairs."

"Why are you here?" Riley asked, but before he could answer, Bella opened the bedroom door and stepped out.

"I'm leaving, Riley," her voice was surprisingly firm.

"Like hell you are!" He grabbed her arm and yanked her backward. Bella let out a small squeak.

Jasper grabbed her around the waist to stabilize her. She panicked for a moment before she remembered that Jasper was a nice man.

"You'll want to let go of her now," he told Riley with a clam menace in his voice as he stared at where the other man's hands were on Bella's arm. "I would hate to have to call the police and cause a scene. How would your high rise employer feel about his new VP making the news for domestic abuse?" Jasper's threat surprised Bella. They knew more about Riley than she thought they did.

Riley let go of her hastily. Alice hurried past with two bags and Jasper tucked Bella into his side and tried to shield her from Riley as much as he could. "Come on, sugar," he told her quietly.

"You'll be sorry you did this, Bella," Riley said as they passed him.

When they reached the door, Alice held a hand out for Bella and she took it. "Come on, Bella."

"You'll be back before the week's over!" Riley called after them.

"No, I won't." Bella said more to herself than to him.

They walked down to the car and Jasper loaded the things in the back. Bella looked up at the window of the apartment that had been her home and her personal Hell. The last things she saw before they pulled away was Riley standing in the window scowling down at her.

_Just gonna stand there and watch me burn  
>But that's alright because I like the way it hurts<em>

The Whitlocks drove Bella to the local hospital. She didn't want to go in, but Alice insisted that the incidents had to be reported so she reluctantly agreed. Alice's phone rang so she finished the call as Jasper took Bella inside.

Bella sat down in the waiting room chair while Jasper went to the nurses stand. She bowed her head trying to hide herself from the view of others. It was only a few minutes later that she felt Alice grab her hand. It was a surprise to Bella, that this complete stranger was offering her help and strength.

They sat there for a while just holding each others hands. After a while Bella began to fidget. She hated doctors. In her recent experience, seeing a doctor meant making up an excuse for yet another ER trip.

"Don't worry," Alice said quietly. "My brother works here. He'll take care of you. Jasper went to go find him."

"Alice, I don't want to be a bother."

"Nonsense. Don't worry about it."

Just then, a woman in a gray pair of dress pants and a purple blouse walked into the room with a determined stride. She halted when she entered the doors and when her eyes found Alice and Bella, her entire demeanor softened as she hastened toward them.

"Oh, my dear child," she said in a soft tone looking at Bella. She turned to Alice, "I came as soon as I could. Carlisle is parking the car. Is she going to see Edward?"

"Yes. You didn't have to come racing here, you know."

"Yes, I did." She knelt down slowly in front of Bella's chair. "Bella, I'm Esme. Alice's adopted mother. I want you to know that you're safe now. We all know what it's like," she said looking at Alice and then in direction Jasper had disappeared to. "You're one of us now. And we won't let anyone hurt you any longer. I promise you that, child."

"Thank you," Bella said.

And the tears began to fall.

_Just gonna stand there and hear me cry  
>But that's alright because I love the way you lie<em>

Bella didn't know how long she cried, but at some point Esme had pulled her into her lap and she buried her battered face against the cool smooth silk at her neck. Esme let her cry as she softly stroked the back of her head and murmured softly to her.

"You're safe now, my child. You're safe."

And for the first time in a long time, Bella actually felt like she was.

_I love the way you lie  
>I love the way you lie<em>

**End notes: I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter but please remember what I said in the A/N at the beginning. Do not write me a review bashing Bella and her behavior at the beginning because this is the reality of the situation. I'm not making her a door mat for no reason. Many people (both men and women) that suffer from abuse often take the blame upon themselves for the incidents or the anger that causes them. That is just the truth. It's not nice but it's true. So please don't hate on Bella.**


	4. Part Three: Rosalie Hale

**A/N: Okay guys so this is part three of the story. This is Rosalie just as a I said forever and a day and half ago when I started this story.**

**!WARNING!****: this is the most violent of the stories. It also does have implied rape so if that makes you uncomfortable then I suggest that you don't read after where I marked warning. I marked where it stops as well so just keep that in mind.**

**Okay you've been warned.**

Rosalie Hale

Beep Beep Beep

there was a strange sound that was penetrating her very peaceful sleep. It was the sort of annoying sound that one would use as an alarm clock yet that wasn't what it was

Beep. Beep. Beep.

It was much more constant than an alarm. It was an odd sort of rhythmic beeping that she couldn't place. It was accompanied with a soft whirring of what sounded like a fan.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

She shifted and her breath left her for a moment. Pain. So much pain. Pain she was used to. but this was so much more than normal. Every breath felt as if she was being stabbed. Without opening her eyes she tried to take inventory of her body. Definitely a broken rib this time.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

_God what did he do this time. _She thought offhandedly. _And what in God's name is that sound and how do i make it stop!_

She cautiously opened her eyes and for a moment everything was out of focus, as if she hadn't had her eyes open for a long time. After a few moments things sharpened. She wasn't in their tiny five floor walk up. The white tiled roof above her was a foreign one. Her hand felt like a heavy dead weight. She looked down at herself and quickly realized she was in a hospital bed.

A hospital. She had been before but never was anything quite as bad as this. Her whole right side was in what looked like a cast. She wondered what lie he had told them this time? _Did I fall down the stairs again? Or was it out a window?_ she thought sarcastically.

"You're awake." A deep voice said from the door. On reflex she jumped slightly and turned her head away, closing her eyes. She knew from experience that it was often better to just pretend to be asleep. She was far away from fighting shape. It took a few minutes for it to sink in that the voice wasn't that of her husband. She slowly turned back to him.

This could be very bad. Royce would be furious if she went off and said something that contradicted what he'd been telling the staff. During all of her past trips to the ER Royce hadn't left her side. He never gave her an opportunity to tell anyone any different, now he was no where to be seen. Had they finally caught on to his lies? This mane didn't look like a doctor though, nor did he look like a cop. He was dressed in a tight white t-shirt and light blue jeans. She could see the hint of a tattoo peeking out from underneath one sleeve.

"Shit, I didn't mean to scare you," the man quickly explained. "Please don't be scared. I know i'm kinda intimidating looking." The way he said it sounded like a joke but Rose didn't know if she should take it as one. In her experience even the most innocent looking man could leave the deepest wounds. Something must have shown on her face because he quickly backtracked "Not that you have any reason to be scared! I mean, damn it! I'm doing this right am I?" he rubbed the back of his neck nervously as he took another step into the room. "Let me start over. My name is Emmett McCarty, I'm the one who found you."

That definitely got her attention. _Found me? I was lost? Was that why Royce wasn't here? He just hadn't gotten here yet?_

Her confusion must have shown because Emmett's face softened as he took the last step to the side of her bed. "Do you remember anything that happened?"

She definitely didn't remember exactly how she ended up here, but there was a lot that she did remember. There was a lot that she could never forget.

Now I know we said things, did things that we didn't mean

And we fall back into the same patterns, same routine

Rosalie Hale didn't exactly have the American dream family. Her mother, or what she could remember of the woman at least, looked very much like Rose did now. Tall, skinny, blonde, some would even call her beautiful. Her parents had met in high school. Her mother was the proper cheerleading captain and her father a star on the football team. In typical cliche style Rose's mother ended up pregnant at age seventeen. By her mother's eighteenth birthday she had a bouncing baby girl and she was trapped in this little town forever. At least that was until she found her way out when rose was just five. She ran and never looked back.

Her father was never the same. He started drinking. It wouldn't have been much of a problem if he hadn't been such an angry drunk. Rose learned from a young age that she had to take care of herself. Cooking, cleaning, laundry...those were hardly things that a girl of such tender years should have to worry about, but she didn't have a choice.

When Rose started to hit puberty it became more apparent to her father how much she looked like her mother. The resemblance was a curse. It made him angry and he started to lash out. He never wanted to be in her presence and if was it usually ended badly. Rose knew by age thirteen how to cover up bruises with clothing and makeup.

But your temper's just as bad as mine is

You're the same as me

When Rose turned sixteen she had finally fully grown into her tall gangly form and boys started to pay her a certain amount of attention. In particular there was one boy, Royce King. He was the ultimate bad boy. Grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, drove a motorcycle, kept to himself, the whole bit. He was different than all the other guys. he didn't fawn over like the others. He would just watch. It was usually from a distance, but he never made Rose feel uncomfortable. In fact, the way that he looked at her was almost as if he was confused by her.

While the attention from the boys in her school was a positive boost to her fragile self esteem the girls were another story. They were positively brutal. Barely a day went by that Rose wasn't ridiculed by the female portion of her class. It was after a particularly brutal day in gym that left her in tears out back that she had the reason to speak to Royce for the first time.

"You doing okay back here?" A voice came from the dark corner.

rose looked over to see him leaning against the bricks smoking a cigarette. She laughed bitterly. "Great. Just what I need. Now the whole school will know..."

"Know what? that you popped out for a smoke in between classes..."

She raised an eyebrow at him and all he did was hold out the pack. She took one and the lighter that he offered. "How did you know?"

"That you smoked? I saw you flirting Jim at the marked out of a pack last week."

"You saw that?"

"Yeah."

They were quiet for a long moment, but it was comfortable silence. Finally Rosalie broke it saying a quiet "Thanks." Before putting out her smoke and heading back into the school.

"For what it's worth. I understand." Royce's voice stopped her.

"Understand what?"

"My pops...he uh, well we don't always see eye to eye. So I get it."

Rosalie didn't like what he was implying. No matter what was going on at home that is where she liked it to stay. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Just that people talk..."

"Well people should mind their own business."

Her response brought a smile to his face. "There's more to you than meets the eye isn't there Rosalie Hale."

She didn't know what came over her but she shrugged her shoulder, "Guess you'll have to find that out won't you?

But when it comes to love you're just as blinded

Rose had never met a man like Royce. He was different and not just physically from all of the other boys in the school. True he was probably the most attractive person that she had ever come in contact with but he never pushed her for something that she wasn't ready to give. He wasn't at all like people assumed. He was kind and gentle with her.

He understood her. He understood her family situation. In fact he had gone through something very similar with his own father. It was something that they talked about often during those first few months.

He understood her need to get out. He understood her need to be protected. He had always protected his own mother from his father's rage until he moved out. He didn't mind throwing punches against even the largest players on the football team. They spent every moment the could together. He was her prince and nothing he could do or say was wrong. That was until things changed.

Baby, please come back

It wasn't you, baby it was me

Rosalie and Royce married each other right out of high school, not because they had to but because they wanted too. They had been more or less living together for the past two years. Her father didn't care either way. Rose couldn't even be sure if he knew or not, but she didn't care. Royce was her way out and she was going to take it. had no other options. She wasn't marrying him because he was her only choice, but the truth was, that was exactly it.

After their relationship had begun no one was risky enough to risk the wrath of Royce. All the other boys left Rose alone. While it had been nice to not feel like she was on display all the time it was also strange. The only one who even really talked to her were her teachers and Royce. It was a little lonely but it was better than before. At least that was what Rose told herself. She wasn't marrying him because she

It only took a few months of married life before Rose realized it was only a small step above the life she had living with her father. She was still a glorified maid. Cooking, cleaning, laundry. Only now she had to work too because Royce couldn't hold down a job to save his life. His temper would always get him in trouble and he would get fired. Before long there wasn't a place in the whole county that would hire him. And they had to leave.

They moved to the city in a little rundown apartment above a Chinese restaurant. But factory work wasn't exactly good for Royce either. He started getting involved in some bad things. In the beginning Rose ignored the signs. She loved him and he loved her. She knew that but he was changing. Whatever he was doing was changing him. It was as if a switch would go off. Everything would be okay and then all of a sudden he would erupt and he had no outlet but his wife.

Maybe our relationship isn't as crazy as it seems

Maybe that's what happens when a tornado meets a volcano

But Rose wasn't those people that worked with him. Rose wasn't the spineless boys that they went to highschool with. Rose wasn't weak. Rose wasn't helpless. Rose wasn't her mother. Royce had taught her how to fight back. He had said that he wanted her to know how to defend herself. She would fight back and fight back she did.

She would throw things at him and he would throw them back. She would meet him blow for blow, smack for smack until he would pin her to the wall. It was always when he had her trapped that he seemed to almost snap out of it. Whatever had set him off would disappear and he would realize what he was doing. Their apartment was world war three constantly. But in the end he would always find a way to get back into her good graces. He would storm out only to come back later with a teddy bear and full of apologies and excuses and while she didn't want to be his constant punching bag she knew that it was the situation not really him. He still loved her and he would always reign it in eventually.

It turned out that he hadn't found her official breaking point yet.

*~*~*WARNING*~*~*~*

All I know is I love you too much to walk away though

Come inside, pick up your bags off the sidewalk

It was during one of their many arguments that he found that point of no return for Rosalie Hale. She had been fussing at him about finding another job or they were going to have to look at moving because she couldn't afford their place anymore. Things just exploded. He tossed the dinner all over the floor and screamed at her that she was being a bitch.

"God it's no wonder that all the other guys at school said all you were good for was a fuck!"

Rose had jumped when the dishes hit the floor and turned to look at him.

"What? It's the fucking truth. They were right. Why don't you stop pretending. You'd make more money laying on your back like your whore of a mother."

Rose quickly turned off the stove and went to leave the room but he grabbed her arm and stopped her. "What's the matter sugar. Don't like to hear the truth. It's the only reason I married you. You just look so good with my cock in your mouth."

It was with that statement that Rose just lost it. She had been objectified her whole life to hear that come from her husband completely set her off. She hauled back and punched him as hard as she could. Her knuckles ached afterward but it succeeded in shocking Royce enough for him to let go. She ran straight for the front door.

He wasn't going to let her just walk away this time though. He had recovered from his shock and he was hot on her heals. She hadn't reached the stairs yet when he grabbed her and pulled her back in the door by her hair. She flailed and screamed trying to reach behind her and get a good hit in to him but all she could reach was just air.

Don't you hear sincerity in my voice when I talk

Told you this is my fault

Look me in the eyeball

Once they were back inside he locked and bolted the door and then didn't stop till they were in the bedroom. He threw her forcibly to the ground. She remembered hearing the sickening crunch in her wrist as she tried to catch herself from the fall. She yelled out in pain but received no response other than his continual curses.

"How dare you try to leave me." He kicked her in the stomach. "You don't get to leave. Never." He kicked her again and she felt a sharp pain with each hit. When he was done with that he reached down and picked her up pinning her to the wall by the throat.

"Look at me!" Look at me you bitch!" He demanded emphasizing the last by slamming her back into the wall. When she refused to open her eyes she heard and felt him punch a hole in the wall. She opened her eyes in shock and what she saw terrified her more than his actions. She can take a punch she had learned how to take a hit but usually when she looked in his eyes she would still be able to see the man that she had fallen in love with years ago. Gone was the man that she had married. Gone was the man that she had loved. This man. This man was wild, completely crazy. He was determined to possess. To take.

Next time I'm pissed, I'll aim my fist at the drywall

Next time? There won't be no next time!

Something clicked in Rosalie's head that this wasn't like anything she had ever been through before. She knew how to handle the violence but this was different. He wasn't going to stop. He tore at her clothes until she was bare before him. He touched her roughly. And she cried out but was silenced when he put a hand over her mouth. He hauled her over to their bed still grasping her by the throat. He threw her down and when she tried to scramble away he grabbed her ankle and pulled her back.

"Now where do you think you're going?" He smacked her hard enough that her brain rattled. She felt his fingers flex against her throat and he rubbed himself against her. This wasn't her husband. This wasn't what god had intended. He wasn't going to take into account that she didn't want this. He wasn't going to take no for an answer. He no longer cared. Tears streamed down her cheeks and all he did was smile and squeeze her harder.

I apologize even though I know its lies

I'm tired of the games I just want her back

It was all fully coming back now. Her trying to yell at him to stop. To leave her alone. Him completely ignoring her pleas. Her pushing and scratching at him didn't do anything to deter him. If anything they seemed to spur him on. His hand on her throat until she passed out. The last words she heard from him were that _she _would never get to walk away from him again.

*~*~*WARNING END*~*~*

I know I'm a liar

If she ever tries to fucking leave again

Im'a tie her to the bed and set this house on fire

When she had come to some time later she heard the smoke detector in the living room start to go off. She couldn't remember immediately why. Had she fallen asleep with the oven on? Then the one in the hall closer to the door that was currently closed. She had begun to panic. She tried to get up but she was tied to the bed. Things all started to make more sense. She yelled with all her might, praying that someone would hear her. For a miracle to happen.

It was getting very hot in the room. Smoke was starting to seep through the cracks in the door and tears poured down her face. Not like this. She didn't want it to end like this. She yelled again but the smoke caught in her lungs. She suddenly heard a loud crash. The sound of men yelling of a high powered hose spraying water. She let out another hoarse yell and before things went black again she had made eye contact with the bluest eyes she had seen.

Those were the same eyes that were watching her carefully now at the side of her hospital bed.

"You saved my life." Rosalie said softly. Her throat still raw from both smoke and emotion.

His big face split in a smile and he said a very quiet "You're welcome, Miss Rosalie. You're very welcome, but I'm not done yet." Suddenly he walked back to the door and ushered someone in. She looked so small next to him but he held her hand so softly in both of his. "Miss Rosalie, I'd like you to meet someone."

"Hello there dear," her voice was soft. It was a tone she hadn't heard in a long time. Not since those first few months with Royce. Tears started to pour down Rose's cheeks almost immediately. Esme left Emmett at the the door and sat gently on the edge of the bed. She gathered Rose in her arms and she let herself go. She was sobbing on this complete strangers shoulder but she couldn't bring herself to care. "It's alright, cry for now. We've got you my dear. You'll never be alone again."

**End notes: okay so there it is. I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to get these out but these really take a toll on me emotionally. There is one more small chapter to come. It should be out hopefully very soon because it's just mostly a follow up and a joining of where are they are now sort of thing. So please let me know what you think.**


	5. Epilogue - Present Day

**__A/N: Hi there ya'll i didn't make you all wait nearly as long this time did I. This is it. The last installment of Love the Way you Lie. This is mostly a "where are they now?" Kind of chapter. Everyone got their HEA...well everyone that you all cared about anyway. Well back to Esme and the ending.__**

__Present Day – Esme Platt Cullen__

_Esme took a shaky breath as she glanced out at the audience once more. It had been almost completely silent as she spoke. As she poured her heart out in front of all these people. She focused her gaze on a round table near the front. In the large table for eight there sat seven people. Each of them looking up at her with a similar expression of adoration and sadness. These were their stories she was sharing. These were their lives for so long. She looked from couple to couple and could hardly believe it to be so. They had all changed so much. _

__Just gonna stand there and watch me burn__

_Her precious daughter Alice was the first addition to her little family. When Carlisle had found her, she had been so near death that Esme could only hope that she would make it. She had been skin and bone having been on the run for who knows how long. In the end her husband's medical attention and her constant fussing had the small girl back on her feet. _

_She had been an answer to a prayer. While Esme loved her boys dearly she had always hoped and prayed for a little girl. Alice was a lovely young girl. It took a while before she opened back up after her experience, but Esme knew that the children were often the most resilient. Alice was so happy and alive, even after all that she had been through. But not even something like that could crush Alice's spirit. _

_The man seated next her her brought their clasped hands up to lay a kiss on them. Alice had always been a little leery of men since her experience but when she met Jasper while a way at college that all changed. They had met at a cafe and started a conversation about a book they were both reading at the time. It was a very heated debate from all accounts and though they would never admit it to her, Esme wondered if all they did was talk that day. _

_Alice later attended class she was surprised to find him teaching it. She didn't let that deter her in anyway. When Alice found something she wanted she went after it with everything she had. After a strained first few months, where Jasper was refusing to date a student, she managed to break Jasper down and they had been happily married now for three years._

__But that's all right because I like the way it hurts__

_Esme's gaze slid to her youngest son. Edward sat close to his wife his arm thrown over her chair. He looked down at her with a soft smile and she looked up at him with a look of equal adoration. It brought a small smile to Esme's face. Edward was always like that with his Bella. _

_Ever since she had been brought into the hospital that first night, he had been her unwavering defender. When Alice called and told me what she suspected was going on with one of her neighbors I had immediately wanted to bust over there, but Alice was right that she needed to be the one to help. That Bella needed to leave of her own accord. Bella had to want the help or it would all be for naught in the end._

_When Alice called me a week or so later telling me she was on her way to the hospital with the pour girl and what her situation was exactly I was in the car before I ended the call. Edward at the time was working under his father at the hospital but was excellent with victims of shock. Esme thought it was from all of his exposure at the clinic when he was growing up. He was always kind and gentle. _

_When Esme saw him with her though, it was something different. He would dote on her like no other patient. He would always try to find a way to be around her. He would insist on checking her charts himself, even double checking his own father's work. Carlisle hadn't been offended, he just smiled and still to this day teases him about it from time to time. _

_Bella was understandably shy and maybe just a little obtuse. With Alice as her sole friend she thought that Edward was just being nice to his sister's friend. No matter how hard he tried she never seemed to understand. When it started to dawn on her that his and maybe even her own feelings were of the stronger stuff she had fought against them. It wasn't until Edward was involved in a bad accident that she realized the depth of what it was they shared. A few short months later Edward was still there by Bella's side for the birth of the small bundle of joy that now rested in his mother's arms, not as Bella's doctor but as her partner in life._

__Just gonna stand there and hear me cry__

_Esme's gaze shifted once more. This time to her eldest son, Emmett. His hair was an absolute mess and he hadn't even bothered to put on the tie that she had bought him for the occasion. The fact that she could see the ash smudges on his cheeks from her spot on the stage shouldn't have surprised her. He had probably speed straight from the station to here. _

_Emmett had always been the adventurous one. Even when he was younger. Esme could swear that she'd be gray by the time she reached thirty with him in the house. He always got into more scrapes than she thought possible. Thank goodness his father was a physician or she couldn't immagine the doctor bills that he would have wracked up. A broken leg from saving the neighbors cat, a broken collarbone from falling of the roof...the list went on and on. He lived his life to protect and help all of those around him. It was why he had joined the fire department after school. _

_While Esme wasn't thrilled that he was always putting himself in the line of fire, quite literally, she knew that his passion for saving lives was too strong to waste anywhere else. He was currently one of the five registered firefighter EMT's in the city and was well on his way to making it to chief. _

_The thin blonde next to him tried to wipe the tears from her cheeks without drawing any notice. Emmett though always knew he reached over and delicately wiped them away with his large hands. When Emmett had been called to the five alarm fire at a downtown apartment Esme hadn't been any more worried than she normally was, that was until her son called her. He usually phoned after because he knew his mother listened to the scanner while he was at work. He had been frantic describing the scene he had happened upon when his crew busted down the door. He had heard her yelling and against his captains wishes refused to leave her. Rose had fought until that last minute when she couldn't anymore. And fight was something she didn't have to do again. Emmett was determined to give her everything she wanted and she was light in his eyes, and for the last year Rose had been trying to open up to us all._

_Esme wiped away her own tear that had fallen. Her family. Her broken but strong family. "These women, each of their stories are different in essentials. They vary in the details, but at the same time ___they___ are the same. I don't like to think what would have happened if things had been different. If they hadn't felt that they could turn to someone. I'd like to think that because of the kindness that started with one person, each of them had the courage and the help and the fight to get out of the situations that they were in."_

__But that's alright because I love the way you lie__

_She took a deep breath, "My ___own___ mother was a woman very much like these women, but with a resounding difference. She wasn't as strong. She couldn't see a way out. She had no one reach out to ___her___. After struggling for fifteen years she took her own life and nearly took mine with her."_

__I love the way you lie__

_It was hard for Esme not to slip back to that day. The day that her mother had come to pick her up at school after the concert. The day that she said they were going to go for a little drive. The day that her mother wrapped her car around a tree and tried to take them both from this world. Away from her father, away from the pain, that Esme didn't even know had been going on. _

_"__I've had time to forgive her, to understand her actions for what the were. But I've made it my personal mission to let women and men," her voice caught as she glanced up at the other person sitting at the table. A man that had been by her side for as long as she cared to remember. Her best friend. The preachers son that had refused to let her stay in the house with an abusive father. The love of her life. He was smiling up at her encouragingly. He knew how hard this was for her. She cleared her throat and tried again. "To let women and men everywhere know that there ___is___ a way out. There ___is___ hope. There are people that care, people that will understand."_

_She finally glanced back up at the crowd beyond her family table. "I know that the point of these things is to raise funds, and I've probably spoken for longer than they expected me to," she looked over at the woman who had introduced her. A fellow instructor at the university. She was smiling sadly and Esme could tell she too had been crying. The woman shook her head no in response and Esme focused once more. "But I'm going to ask you to reach into your hearts not just your pocket book. To open your eyes, and your ears and maybe even homes to people who need someone. Who need you. You've taken the first step, caring. Caring enough to come here. But you can't stop here. The warning signs are clear to someone on the outside. They may not be to the person that's going through this. Don't just ignore the signs. If you wait, if you waver even a day, it can be too late. Follow your instincts, let them know that you are there. That there is another option. Or call us here and we'll help. Because if there is anything my family and I have learned is that a life is too precious to waste."_

__I love the way you lie__

* * *

><p><strong><em><em>- One in four women have experience domestic violence in her lifetime.<em>_**

**__-Between 600,000 and 6 million women are victims of domestic violence each year, and between 100,000 and 6 million men.__**

**__- Between 3.3 - 10 million children witness some form of domestic violence annually.__**

**__-Nearly three out of four american personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence__**

**__-On average more than three women and one man are Murdered by their intimate partners in this country every day.__**

**__Sadly these are what the statistics show. Only we can help change those statistics. Please go and volunteer at a local shelter or donate when you can. The only way to stop hate is with love. Thank you for taking the time to read this story. Please let me know what you think of just this chapter or the story as a whole. I love to hear from you. love always Kat.__**

**__*statistics via the domestic violence resource center. - /domestic/violence/recources/C61 just take out the ()__**


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